GHC Advocacy Brief: Global Health Proposals make Headway on the Hill

Our advocacy work has continued through meetings on Capitol Hill with staff from Members of the House and Senate State, Foreign Operations Subcommittees and other legislators interested in Global Health. Staff across-the-board expressed support for being given timely materials and talking points supporting funding and positive policy for global health generally. While several offices identify issues like HIV/AIDS or MNCH as important, many simply say that they support global health broadly and are glad to have someone giving them a holistic view of what is happening in global health. A staffer for a senior House Republican appropriator told GHC that the global health budget chart we have included in our advocacy materials (which includes the GHC FY15 request levels for GH accounts) was the clearest and most helpful she has seen.

USAID Administrator Raj Shah and Secretary of State Kerry were on Capitol Hill recently to testify on the FY2015 budget request for International Affairs. GHC drafted and provided questions to more than 20 key offices on global health issues including: Proposed Cuts to Global Health Funding, HIV/AIDS, Global Health Security, Response to Anti-LGBT Laws, Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health, Nutrition, Healthcare Workforce, and Global Health Technologies. The questions focused primarily on funding issues and in several instances were drawn from letters Working Groups had sent to Capitol Hill. GHC received a very positive response from many of the staff to whom our members sent letters and promises to include them in the Member briefing books and to submit them for the record.

See below for an analysis of Global Health Programs in the President’s Budget Request for 2015, as prepared by Kaiser Family Foundation.